Palm Springs looks at future plans in ‘State of the City’ address
Kendall Flynn
PALM SPRINGS, Calif. (KESQ) – The City of Palm Springs hosted its “State of the City” Tuesday at the Palm Springs Convention Center. The address highlighted some of the city’s accomplishments and took a look ahead to future plans.
Mayor Ron deHarte shared updates on the recent accomplishments and new ideas for Palm Springs.
Local business owner Bob Kincaid told News Channel 3 that the city’s growth is evident, but questions remain about the future.
“I think the economic department for Palm Springs has done a really good job of trying to boost business with their, their local campaign that they did where they did the gift cards and such, and I know that the team over there is doing a really good job really trying to bring in business,” Kincaid said.
Two projects Kincaid mentioned are the Plaza Theatre reopening and the Convention Center modernization. While he sees the support, Kincaid says he’s hoping to see more small business support outside of downtown Palm Springs, like for his business in the Rim Rock Plaza.
“If you really look at sustainability, we also have to focus on our local community. While we love our people from Canada and everyone else who visits us, I think again, you know, having a solid plan. That comes down to a business plan for a lot of businesses,”
Holding officials accountable, we asked deHarte about initiatives, including how advancing technology in the city will bring more opportunities.
“We have to look at our processes internally so that the outside business community that wants to come work in Palm Springs and invest in Palm Springs can do it simply and can do it quickly and not have to lose a lot of money because it takes a long time to process their requests through City Hall,” deHarte said.
While there is success with business upgrades and 48 new businesses added, deHarte says there are still challenges ahead this year.
“We did well. We increased revenue. Next year we’re projecting a slight decrease. We have to pay attention to that. We have to watch the quarterly reports,” deHarte said.
deHarte said he attributes the slowing economy for the decrease.
“I think it’s just the slowing economy that we’re seeing, we can’t point our fingers to anything quite yet,” deHarte said.